


So long ago, long ago, long ago...

by shieldslut



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: All the happy feels, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Established Relationship, Fluff, Implied Pre-War Relationship, M/M, Steve Rogers Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23471764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shieldslut/pseuds/shieldslut
Summary: A lot has changed across the decades, but the most important things have remained.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42
Collections: Fluff 2020: A Multifandom Fluff Meme





	So long ago, long ago, long ago...

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [angelgazing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelgazing/pseuds/angelgazing) in the [Fluff2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Fluff2020) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Lots of things aren’t like they used to be. But somethings are.
> 
> \---
> 
> This is my first try at fluff, so I hope it's decent! I saw this prompt and I just couldn't resist :)
> 
> Please leave a comment/kudos if you like it <3
> 
> The title is from Eight by Sleeping at Last, please go give it a listen! It always makes me think of Stucky, and I think it's perfect for this fic!

There was so much time, so much space, so much change, between them. 

They were so far off from the days spent in that Brooklyn brownstone, from the way that Steve used to fit perfectly in Bucky’s arms, thin and frail beneath him. They were so far removed from the canvas tents and trenches of the war, and the shock and newness of Steve’s altered body.

He hasn’t been sick in decades, is now unfamiliar with the way it felt to be gripped by a fever, chilled and clammy when wrapped in Bucky’s arms.

He’s nearly forgotten the awkwardness of his own body, big and new and clumsy in the wake of Erskine’s experiment, and the uncertainty he’d felt when he and Bucky had rediscovered each other, fumbling in their affections. 

He knows it must be worse for Bucky, memories frail and shattered after decades of abuse. 

He’s told him, before, secret and quiet in the dead of night, about how scared he was that he’d never remember anything at all, that he’d never remember how it felt to love Steve back then, when it was illegal and wrong but all the stronger for it. 

Bucky had whispered about how unmoored he had felt, detached from everything but the vague knowledge that Steve was someone he had loved, once upon a time, even if he scarcely remembered it. But there, wrapped in Steve’s arms for once, feeling smaller and weaker than he had in decades, he had realized that it didn’t matter.

He could fall in love again, rediscover the way it felt to care so deeply for the other man, to be willing to follow him to the ends of the earth, to love and be loved irrevocably and forever, across the decades that had tried to separate them.

———

As he healed, as he recovered, Bucky remembered. He remembered how relieved he had been to discover that Steve’s eyes were the same shade of blue they had always been, that his hips were still slight and somehow frail and fit perfectly in Bucky’s own grip, that nothing any scientist would ever do could change the way he fell apart beneath him. He remembered that loving Steve felt like walking into the sun after being stuck in the cold, and he learned that nothing and no one would change that.

Steve learned too, he learned that Bucky would never quite be the same man he had loved when he was asthmatic and ninety pounds soaking wet, that too many places and people and things had come between them for them to ever return to that post-war bliss. But he also learned that enough had stayed the same, that Bucky still looked at him the same way when they awoke, intertwined with one another, that his hair still fell the same way across his forehead, that he would always feel like Steve’s perfect other half. He learned that it would take more than everything the world had thrown at them to change the way he felt for the other man.

———

Steve’s sitting on the couch when Bucky gets back, sweaty and flushed after hours spent in the gym, doing whatever he can to feel more like himself. Unprecedented, he climbs into Steve’s lap, pushing aside the sketchbook he’d been idly drawing in to take its place, straddling his thighs.

He looks serious, mouth set in a line and brow furrowed, and Steve immediately feels his pulse rising, worrying already at whatever had managed to upset the other man. He moves to rest his hands on Bucky’s hips, anchoring him down against him. Before he can even ask, though, Bucky speaks.

“You love me,” he says, unquestioningly but with a waver in his voice all the same.

“I do, Buck, always have,” Steve murmurs, pausing before continuing, “I always will.”

Bucky nods, casting his eyes downwards before continuing in a much quieter tone, “I’ve changed a lot,” he says, hesitating again, “I’m not the same person I used to be.”

“I know,” Steve replied, quiet and hesitating over his next words, “And I love you all the more for it.”

His reply prompted the other to look at him, making direct eye-contact for the first time since he had sat in his lap. 

“I can’t remember all of the reasons why I used to love you,” Bucky whispered, “But I think I remember enough, I think I’ve _learned_ enough, to know that I’ll never stop.”

Steve finds himself grinning, a smile spreading uncontrollably across his face, “Yeah?” He murmurs, leaning up to nuzzle his nose against Bucky’s, “Guess you’re stuck with me forever then, huh?”

Bucky flushed, smile mirroring Steve’s as he connected their lips in a gentle kiss, “Yeah, you are.”


End file.
